You’ve seen her lead the Allstars and Black Bettys to countless victories over the years. Many a blocker has tried to get in her way and found themselves just a second too slow for her quick feet. Get to know this jumpy jammer, Jen Pinion!
Photo Credit: MidMemory Photography
Name: Pinion
Number: 8
Travel Team: Allstars
Home Team: Black Bettys
Years skating: 7
You were nominated by Bush, and she wants to know how you plan on achieving your goal of being more positive in 2020. How’s that going?
It’s good! My plan is to not have a plan and just enjoy it more. I don’t want to be sucked into all the details and jobs.
Photo Credit: Roy Crawford Photography
What is your pre-derby background?
I grew up skating, putting on quad skates and rollerblades (because they were cool!), so I’d skate a lot that way around the neighborhood and play street hockey. And then I skateboarded since I was in 6th grade or something until I was in college. That’s where all of the skating skills and abilities came from.
What would you say is the coolest trick you could do on a skateboard? Or what was a favorite one?
I liked mini ramps, still even now, mini-ramps were always my favorite. But the hardest trick I learned was a 360 flip. I think I only landed it a handful of times, but it taught me perseverance. You just have to fail like 500 times.
Photo Credit: Joel Giltner Photography
So what brought you to roller derby then?
Well, Bushwacker, my best friend, we lived together around 2011 and she had all the Hard Knox posters around the house and I was like, “Wow, that’s so cool!” The posters back then were different. She had this one that was like a comic book of a roller derby sequence and that was so cool. All the people would carpool all the time and so I kind of met some of the skaters who were like, “You should play roller derby!” And I thought it was a good idea, but I was in school, so I didn’t get to. But I do remember trying on her skates when she was out of the house and it was neat.
Photo Credit Jia Shutter Shove
How I actually got into roller derby was I moved to New Mexico. I didn’t know anybody, I had just graduated college, and was like, “You know what? I should do roller derby.” Fortunately, there was a team. They were much smaller than Hard Knox, but we were all learning to play roller derby together. People are so welcoming in roller derby. You make 50 friends immediately!
You’ve gone through several name changes, right?
Kind of. I guess I’ve just had one actual derby name. That was Carcinojen, and I chose that because I was a science major in college. I wanted something kind of nerdy with my name in it, and I finally figured out “carcinogen.” My number was Mu8 because carcinogens mutate DNA, but refs used to always say “Muh-tate,” and it would just drive me nuts, so I just dropped the letters, and that’s how I got 8. I don’t know if I would have picked 8 otherwise. (For the name) I’ve just been doing Pinion. It’s my name, and I just felt really compelled to do that. It felt right
Photo Credit: Choose Your Moments Photography
How would you describe your derby playing style?
This is a hard question because I don’t really know what I look like when I skate or how I actually skate. People tell me I have finesse, and I don’t really know, but that’s cool that they say that. How I think about it: I’m very jumpy, fast, and agile.
In the two years I’ve known you, I’ve only ever really seen you jam. Have you ever blocked?
Yeah, I block all the time!
I guess I just think of you as a jammer.
I’m definitely primarily a jammer. That’s what has gotten me excited about derby more. Just because— you do one position for a really long time, and then you’re like, “I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve plateaued,” so you have to try new things, and that was blocking for me. It’s really fun; I love blocking, and I’m getting better at it.
Do you have any kind of pre-game ritual that you like to do?
Photo Credit: MidMemory Photography
Kind of, but if I don’t do it, I don’t get upset. Usually, I get up and walk that dog right there.
Ziggy!
We walk at the park and that gets me chilled out. The park’s like my spiritual place. So we go walk and I listen to music to try and get stoked. I drink a lot of coffee and try to eat. At the convention center or wherever we’re playing, I usually just listen to music and try to get really stoked. If I’m struggling, I watch skateboarding videos. That’s the only other weird thing I guess— old skateboarding videos that I turn to and get really excited about. They always have awesome music, get you stoked music, and then they’re throwing all these cool tricks. So that’s what I do. And try to eat. I usually forget to eat.
What are some of your favorite achievements?
That’s a really hard question for me because I’ve been skating for so long that it’s all kind of muddled together. I guess something I really enjoy and continue to strive for is scoring all the points, like the most points out of everybody. That’s always really exciting for me. There was one time where I scored more points than all the opposing jammers and I thought that was awesome.
Game-wise, beating Pan U (Panhandle United Roller Derby) was cool because that was totally unexpected and I went into that one not really expecting it. That one was a ton of fun. I was skating on Katie Queen’s wheels.
Why were you?
I don’t buy new wheels usually, so I borrowed hers and they were just awesome. They felt really good. So that was a cool achievement. Beating (Richland County) Regulators was cool too because they were super intense and aggressive
Photo Credit: Tami Maples
What has been something you’ve gained from your roller derby experience that you maybe didn’t expect?
I really like this question because I’m pretty reserved and shy, or quiet and stick to myself, but I’ve gained some leadership skills. I was not expecting that at all. I’ve gained confidence talking in front of people, interacting with people, and also teaching people. I learned that I really enjoy that. I was not expecting that.
Photo Credit: John Blood
You’re a very clear teacher. I know exactly what you mean when we’re trying to follow a drill that you’re doing. You let us see it, you break it down, and then you let us ask questions.
Photo Credit: MidMemory Photography
I have to write down a drill like five times before I do it just because I have to know it. I have a hard time explaining things sometimes so I have to prepare.
As a teacher, I have to do basically that every single day, so you’re doing things right.
Yes!
So what are some things you like to do in your free time?
Walk the dog is always a top one. Hiking, obviously. I love going to the mountains and seeing nature. I like skating at the skate park a lot. I’m finally starting to get back into doing that after a little hiatus. I like skating around with Ziggy. People always look at you weird and are like, “Are you roller derby?” Ziggy sleeps really well afterwards. The other notable interest is that I have a lot of houseplants. Some of them are dying or don’t look good right now because it’s winter, or it’s supposed to be winter. They’re having an issue with the lack of moisture.
Who would you like to nominate for next month, and what do you want to ask her?
I’m gonna go with Night Mayor, and I want to know how she feels about being a Betty.
Thank you for taking time to talk with me, Pinion! If you missed our home team scrimmages last month, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to catch her on the track, but the Brawlers will be on the road March 14 to take on Smoky Mountain Roller Girls in Bryson City, and HKRD will be marching in the downtown Mardi Growl parade on March 7. Until next time, be like Pinion and do something with a bit of finesse.
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